Shoppers Jam Stores in Last-Minute Rush

Mother and daughter Marlene and Tiffany Burke of Inglewood planned to forgo exchanging gifts this holiday--and almost succeeded--until Christmas Eve, when the spirit got the better of them and they dashed their budgets by dashing out to the mall.

“We were trying to save money, but I just thought of all the people I love and wanted them to have something nice,” said Tiffany Burke, 36, who had tried to save money after buying her first house this year. “And I wanted something nice for myself, too. When you’re as blessed as we are, you just have to buy and give.”

The Burkes, making their way through the Westside Pavilion laden with bags from Nordstrom, Robinsons-May and other merchants, had plenty of company throughout the nation this weekend.

Dianna Tycholis, 26, of Fountain Valley, is one of those ultra-organized shoppers. She buys and buys throughout the year and throws everything into a gift box.

Only problem is, then she’s done early and has time to think about everything she’s purchased.

“I buy a lot of stuff early, and then at the last minute I think I should get them more,” Tycholis said as she shopped in the Crate and Barrel at South Coast Plaza.

The last-minute buyers offered a bit of relief to anxious retailers, who worried about the slow start to the longer than usual selling season and hoped that a confluence of an extra weekend before Christmas and a late Hanukkah would pull them out of the doldrums.

Shoppers across the Southland complied, including the Burkes and others who reneged on a pledge of no gifts this Christmas: procrastinators buying stocking stuffers at a 99-Cent store in Canoga Park, two women who took advantage of the sales at South Coast Plaza to buy clothes for themselves, and aching shoppers at the Beverly Center, who looked for gifts at Brookstone while “testing” the store’s personal massagers.

But even as the cash registers rang this weekend, retailers here and elsewhere had no guarantees about profits, because many paid dearly for those transactions in order to reach sales goals and clear out holiday inventory.

To make sure that consumers felt compelled to buy, many stores offered additional markdowns, longer hours, extra coupons and gifts as the season wore on--so much that some analysts questioned whether after-Christmas sales could offer any better bargains.

The special offers weren’t likely to bring this year’s sales in line with December 1999, which tallied a 6.7% sales gain over the year before. Some analysts doubted the industry would meet even the more modest increase in sales that many on Wall Street predicted before the season began in November. And that’s despite this shopping season’s running two days longer than last year’s.

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi economist Mike Niemira, who had forecast a 4% sales increase for December, last week revised his estimate to a gain of between 2% and 4%, after Wal-Mart; Target Corp.; Sears, Roebuck & Co.; and other major chains said sales hadn’t kept pace with forecasts.

But others were optimistic. “This is not going to be nearly as bad as all the doom and gloom we’ve heard the last couple of weeks,” said John Konarski, senior vice president of the International Council of Shopping Centers. “I’m expecting sales to be flat . . . but you’ve got to remember what that number is about; it’s an increase over last year, which was a phenomenal year.”

Big Markdowns Lure Shoppers

For the most part, the last-minute specials worked to draw in buyers around Southern California.

Signs in the windows of lingerie peddler Victoria’s Secret beckoned shoppers with a notice that for the first time, the company’s popular Body by Victoria line was 25% off. Bloomingdale’s had giant red aisle markers proclaiming bargains throughout the store, including 40% off one of this year’s hottest items, leather coats.

Lady Footlocker’s windows alerted shoppers to a special offer of “buy one, get another for half-price” and Home Depot, an unlikely place for storewide markdowns, offered shoppers 10% off almost everything this weekend.

The good deals were at least part of the reason some shoppers relented on strict budget plans and headed to the stores this weekend, acknowledging that in spite of their fears of a slowing economy, interest rate hikes, higher energy prices and a wild stock market, none was enough to get in the way of Christmas 2000.

Rosanna Beaumont and her family, who live in South Los Angeles, had decided to donate their holiday money to needy children abroad, she said, instead of exchanging gifts.

Nonetheless, Beaumont loaded up her nephew--to hold a place in line--and her son--to pick out gifts--and headed out to the Target on South La Cienega Boulevard early Sunday.

By noon, Beaumont, 42, and son Evan, almost 16, were making their way to the checkout lines, their cart full with a variety of candles, last-minute soft drinks for the Christmas Eve celebration and a $200 mini-stereo system that would be Evan’s combination Christmas and birthday gift.

“Philosophically, we aren’t into a lot of things; I’ve never bought him a stereo or a Nintendo or TV for his room or anything like that,” Beaumont said. “But he has been a very good boy and I decided he should get something special even though we said we wouldn’t.”

On Santa Ana’s bustling 4th Street, shoppers competed for space on the crowded sidewalk with pushcart vendors, musicians and a Santa Claus. For many, a parking space began to seem like a Christmas miracle.

Edicta Rodas and her family, all weighed down with multiple shopping bags, made their way through the crowd searching for one last gift.

“I’m buying many presents,” Rodas said. “Shoes, flowers, different things. Everything.” Until now, Rodas and her family, in town from Fresno to spend the holiday with relatives in Santa Ana, said they have been too busy making traditional Christmas tamales to shop.

At the Oaks shopping center in Thousand Oaks, few shoppers admitted to procrastinating, but they were hard-pressed to explain their presence there on Christmas Eve.

“Late is if you’re at 7-Eleven [buying gifts],” said Tom Spence of Simi Valley, buying artwork at the Museum Co. “I don’t consider this late.”

Trami Tran, a saleswoman at the Oaks’ Ben Bridge jewelry store, said retailers can benefit from shoppers’ last-minute desperation; the later it gets, she said, the more they spend. By the last shopping hours of Christmas Eve, men are buying diamonds with abandon, Tran said.

“Whatever we show, that’s what he’s going to buy,” Tran said. “He’s panicked.”

At South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa on Sunday, sisters Nicole and Tracey Balding were the picture of last-minute, with their arms weighed down with shopping bags from Macy’s, Eddie Bauer, Talbots and Gap.

But, acknowledged Nicole Balding, 29, of Denver: “We have one gift and the other bags are for us. Everything is on sale!”

Traditional Christmas Eve shoppers Dana and Kathi Carpenter of Winnetka, who were buying for their 16-year-old daughter, said what they really lacked in shopping this year was time, not money.

“I think prices are marked down, but that’s not why we do it,” said Dana, who was wheeling a cart through the Northridge Linens ‘n Things.

“We’re just procrastinators,” said his wife.

And, just as the retailers hoped, some shoppers headed to the stores in the name of enjoying the Christmas season.

DeAnn Austin, 37, of the Crenshaw district in Los Angeles, finished her Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving. But that didn’t stop her from pushing a cart full of wrapping paper, thermal mugs and other merchandise through Target, looking for more.

“I guess I just like being out and enjoying the excitement just before Christmas,” Austin said. “I didn’t have to be out here, but I wanted to be.”

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Times staff writers Massie Ritsch, Kimi Yoshino, Michael Krikorian and Jessica Garrison and Times correspondent Gail Davis contributed to this story.

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